The invention pertains to aqueous hard surface cleaning compositions, and particularly to noncorrosive hard surface cleaning compositions providing improved soil removal.
Safely cleaning hard surfaces has proven to be troublesome. Although corrosive alkaline cleaning solutions are fairly effective in removing dirt, sludges, greases, oils and other soil, they are subject to restrictive regulations by the Department of Transportation and by the Consumer Product Safety Commission under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. ("Corrosive" is defined by these regulations.) Many non-corrosive cleaning products fail to remove significant percentages of soil from the hard surfaces to which they are applied. Non-corrosive cleaning solutions may require multiple applications or vigorous manual action to succeed in removing a satisfactory amount of soil.
Prior attempts have been made to maximize the cleansing effectiveness of non-corrosive cleaning agents through the inclusion of various surfactants, solvents and/or additional elements. These prior attempts have failed to employ the optimal proportions of components which yield the best cleaning performance.